As companies struggle to keep up with technology, upgrade their systems, refine their internal processes and outwit their competitors, they must make organizational changes to include these project leaders and changes agents at the forefront of their marketing organizations. What was once a niche role and a minority in marketing departments now accounts for over 69,000 job opportunities in the U.S. alone according to Indeed.

What is the role of a marketing project manager?

Marketing project managers play a significant role in bringing to life the strategy and vision of a marketing organization. They are project leaders who are comfortable with overseeing many moving parts within a complex business organization. They lead, implement and manage the production of a variety of marketing projects by driving cross-functional collaboration, building consensus among stakeholders, communicating expectations and removing barriers. Marketing project managers are accountable for the overall workflow and operational success. They spearhead a variety of programs and campaigns, and are key creative contributors who are actively involved with the project from start to completion. If strategically utilized within a marketing organization, they add immense value not only to the project and the team, but to marketing managers and leaders.

How can you strategically leverage and utilize a marketing project manager in your organization?

While organizational leaders are charged with defining the vision and direction for their department, and guiding and developing their teams, they face several challenges that offset their ability to lead and think at a higher, more strategic level. Day-to-day operations along with ‘bread-and-butter’ projects peek in more often than they should and oftentimes, it becomes a game of ‘whack-a-mole’ to maintain a healthy workflow and balance. Thus it’s important for marketing leaders to hire the right candidates and empower their team to make smart decisions.

Marketing project managers are ideal candidates for helping managers shift the uneven weight. They are capable of taking ownership and responsibility for variety of projects, and prefer to work independently or with little oversight when it comes to navigating the organization, making conscious and reliable business decisions, and managing the overall workflow. They are mid-level managers who understand how the system works and how to drive their campaign to reach their desired outcome while promoting efficiency and instilling process.

Once managers realize the potential marketing project managers bring to the organization, they rely on them and challenge them with increased responsibility such as managing budgets, tracking marketing spend and overseeing third party relationships. With proper guidance, marketing project managers often are able to transition from an individual contributor to a manager within one to two years.

Why are marketing project managers underutilized within organizations?

Across both agencies and corporations, marketing project managers are oftentimes underutilized within their organization and on several occasions, this occurs even before their skill sets have been put to test. How and why does this happen to capable leaders? One reason this occurs is because the term ‘project manager’ connotes structure, process and change that are not always welcomed in the culture of an organization. Process and structure are very rigid terms and they stifle creativity and flexibility. Change from a department that prefers routine and habit can threaten roles and expose gaps and loose ends. There is the way things have been done that ‘works’ for the department and the team, and there is also the way things can be done which involves shaking up routine, trying something new, gaining trust and breaking old habits. Without having experienced this change, there is little trust, reliability, competence and belief that they can instill in someone such as a marketing project manager.

Another reason why marketing project managers are underutilized is because the team doesn’t fully understand the role they play in the organization. Project managers have a multidisciplinary role that spans across the entire project team and crosses paths with each of its individual team members. When roles and responsibilities are not thoroughly defined, team members fixate on project managers who play the dual role of team lead and team player, and see this as a threat or an invasion on their current role.

Organizational leaders can overcome these challenges by educating the team when there is a change to the overall structure or workplace environment. Introducing new team members and processes requires clear communications to the department usually from the top-down. While it’s important to define a marketing project manager’s roles and responsibilities, it’s just as important to map it back to the company’s mission and values. By allotting enough time for this adjustment, piloting new processes and actively communicating feedback along the way, leaders can train and empower employees to accept this change on their own terms.

What happens if you take marketing project managers out of the equation?

Marketing project managers are not cheap. In fact, the national average for hiring these marketing evangelists is over $70,000 and up to $105,000 on the higher end according to Glassdoor. It’s certainly a worthwhile investment if strategically utilized within an organization. In my experience, companies that forgo the opportunity of including marketing project managers in their department tend to have difficulties with scope creep, maintaining costs, managing third parties and pushing back with demanding customers. Without a solid production team and process in place, my previous agency underestimated the costs of several of their projects, were three times more likely to go over budget and were ten times more willing to change the production schedule in favor of the client over the contractual obligation.

Marketing project managers are not only project leaders, they are guardrails for your project and your team, they are producers who materialize your vision and strategy, and they are your partner when it comes to shifting the weight from strategy to production.

By understanding a marketing project manager’s role and embracing them into the organization, managers and leaders can free up their time to think more strategically while at the same time position the marketing team to expand their capabilities.